Hope and a Sealed Door
by Malachi288
Summary: Gabriel has traveled a long way, and the only thing standing between him and the good life is a single door. A short tale.


Daniel picked up a box of cigarettes and put one to his mouth unlit. He checked the box.

"Three left." He said to no one, setting the box back down. He paced more, the taste of the cigarette in his mouth spurring some thinking.

He considered himself a good hacker. Out of the few scavenging crews he had run with through the past few years, only he had been able to crack the uncrackable terminals and unseal the forever sealed doors. There was a reason he earned the nickname 'RobCo Jr.".

But the door in front of him now almost mocked him. He had been staring at it for over a month, throwing everything he could at the small terminal built into the wall next to it. Nothing worked.

If the terminal had been in full working order then perhaps the door would have already been opened by now. But when he found it, he found that someone had overridden the past protocols to write their journal entries. Daniel had spent the first week swimming through the green code to find any hint of what the old protocols might have been. With whatever luck he had left, he had been able to find snippets of it. While RobCo could make well working and tolerant machines, they always had an issue with getting rid of the old code. It always stuck somewhere in the back corners of its processing.

Finding it had been somewhat easy, but the more difficult part was putting it back together. Usually, that was easy for "RobCo Jr.", but most of the older lines of code he was working with had been severely corrupted. To put it plainly, he now had to put back together a puzzle that had already been smashed apart and the pieces thrown away.

He sat down on a plush red chair, sucking at the cigarette in his mouth. He stared at the door, like he had so many other times, willing it to open. The door simply stared back, unheeding.

Daniel sighed and lit the cigarette. He had spent the last six hours hitting his head against the wall to finish the puzzle, which as much results as he had gotten the last week. Zilch.

The heavy nicotine of the smoke he breathed in cleared his head, if only for a moment. Instead of feeling the green letters buzzing lazily in his mind, he could feel the warmth spreading of the sour smoke easing it away.

He looked over to a photo hanging on the wall, where the thick jawed face of Senator Fields looked back down at him with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Keep smiling. I'm gonna get in there, and then we will see who is smiling."

The photo said nothing back.

Daniel groaned and took another drag, slowly blowing out the smoke to fill the room. The room had been well kept before he had moved in to break open the door, but now it reeked of the heat of a terminal, cigarette smoke, unwashed man and burnt Cram. As much as he now hated the cramped room and the door that sat in it, Daniel couldn't leave. He had put too much work into it, and the promise of what lay behind the door was too good.

It all started with a small holotape in the trash of an apartment Daniel had been looting. He picked it up hoping it was a game or music he could sell for a quick cap. It turned into more than he could have hoped for.

Apparently, the apartment had been the hideaway of a powerful Senator before the war. This Senator, named Fields as Gabriel would learn later, was very interesting in warfare tech and had his own private collection. The holotape explained how his collection of war paraphernalia had grown to include a full set of T51 Power Armor, never used and in mint condition, and an AER12 laser rifle, something rare enough for Daniel to have to look up information on. Apparently, it was an advanced version of the more common AER9 laser rifle, with a larger power output and firing speed. Of the few AER12s that have been found, none have been in any sort of working order after decades of disuse. Yet past the door, one may sit there, intact and hopefully still functioning. The thought of both of those juicy bits of tech had been enough to drag him from his home of Boston down to DC, where the Senator lived long term.

And here he had sat, for three days over a month, staring at the door.

"Ah!" He threw the smoldering butt of the cigarette on the ground. He had been too focused.

Back at the terminal, Daniel tried to hammer his way through. He was getting close, he could feel it in his gut. Another day of work, maybe, and it would all be worth it. He needed to go and get food, he had been out for the last two days, but there was no way that he was going to leave the terminal and door behind. He would eat after, and meanwhile, use the anger of his stomach to fuel his efforts.

The terminal let out an annoyed buzz, and Daniel wanted nothing more than to drive his fist through it.

He pulled another cigarette out of the box. Second to last. He didn't take the time to taste it. He happily breathed in the smoke as his fingers flew across the keyboard. His eyes flashed through line after line of code, the numbers and letters hammering their meaning into his mind. Each one brought him the smallest bit closer.

He lit his final cigarette, the room now filled with a haze. He coughed through it. The heat of the terminal told him that he was almost done. All of the work would be worth it. The hiking through the radiated wasteland, the hunger, the anger; it would all come to an end. The armor would fetch a beautiful price, as would the gun if he chose to sell it. He would be set. He would be safe. Hell, he might be able to check on Tenpenny Tower, move in and live in the lap of luxury. The thought brought a smile to his thin, focused lips.

Finally, the terminal made a sound he hadn't heard in a long time. It let out the small, happy click of acceptance. Daniel's started to laugh. He couldn't help it. His eyes flashed to the photo of Senator Field and his smile.

"You see you bastard? I got you. I finally got you!" His laugh broke out again, exhilarated and relieved all in one.

With a single keystroke, Daniel opened the door. Compared to all of the work he had done, it seemed too easy. The door squealed open, resisting from years of disuse. Daniel stood in front of the door, still laughing.

Inside was three empty shelves, and a single holotape laying on the ground.

Daniel stopped laughing. The started again. Then stopped.

It was only after a long time had passed that he finally picked up the small white holotape with a shaking hand. He slipped it into the terminal, the last bit of hope dying as he read.

_Martha,_

_You saw the bombs just like I did. Now is as good a time as any. I have been having an affair with a girl names Sarah up in Boston. I met her two years ago, and I love her. I love her and I am going to be with her. Hell if I care what happens to you. I took all of my collection. You know, the stuff you called a waste of money. I left a 10mm for you though. One bullet. _

_Your ex-husband,_

_Eric _


End file.
